Steel and Mana

"Is this fresh?" I asked, wiping my eyes, forcing back down a yawn because I was woken up in the middle of the night. Not that I was angry, as the Morse code message that arrived was indeed significant enough not to waste any moment.

"It is. It arrived fifteen minutes ago." Merlin answered while I read my Uncle's message detailing what happened when our midnight train arrived at Lothlia.

A small box… of magical properties. From what my agents described in this message, it reminded me of something I wanted to develop one day. Thanks to Merlin, we already had devices that could record and replay sound... Then, there is the Imaginary, which we are now using in our mech, and we are slowly working on somehow including it in our soldier's helmets. While that specific research was headed by Merlin and Mikan, we still had the issue of fueling it, something that we couldn't solve yet. On paper, it can be done, and they made prototypes that could enable our soldiers to view the world in more detail and have a virtual interface before them. It would allow them not only to have a better vision but also to see their compatriots and their statuses or even see in the dark. Dorian had already built three variants; the issue was the required energy of the formation. Just one helmet, to function, had to be accompanied by the same amount of CC that required a Dragonfire Canon to shoot with its full capabilities. Keeping it on for a prolonged sortie would be a near impossibility. Mikan had some ideas about using tattoos and whatnot, but... We needed potent monster blood for that. And a lot of it. Sadly, we were close to empty at the moment.

"Sovereign?"

"Sorry, I'm sleepy, and my mind began to wander everywhere but where it should be!" I flinched, shaking my head, returning to the letter. "My guess is that the spy used a device that recorded images of our train, either still images or moving ones…"

"Movies! The thing you spoke about?!" He yelled out, his eyes suddenly going extra wide and shining like two gold pieces.

"Yeah. Immediately send back a message! Don't let him leave the city; if he does, intercept, capture, and retrieve his device!"

"Yes, My Sovereign!" He saluted, but I grabbed his hand before he could run away.

"I didn't finish! Try not to alert him. Prepare one of the fake blueprints I drafted with the most inconsistencies, missing details, and errors. We are going to throw in the first bait and make contact with him."

"I still think it is a bad idea, Leon." He answered, trying to say it as firmly as possible, "They can still reverse engineer it, especially if they have the images of the train."

"I don't mind. What they can learn from it are the steam engine itself and the boiler. As for how to turn that energy into pushing the drivetrain, that is up to them to figure out! Even if they have crisp, 4K visuals, the moving parts are hidden behind protective sheeting. I told you, Merlin, I don't care if they copy the trains… They will have to go through all the steps I skipped to get to where we are now!"

“…”

"Speak freely." I smiled, seeing him wriggle his eyebrows.

"What is 4K?"

"Ah... Well... The image of how our mechs see the world. Mostly."

"I see! Um-um... So, we just need to stay ahead of them, right?

"Look, some technologies need to spread anyway, Merlin. I am not afraid of others catching up or getting ahead. I am not here to conquer the world anyway! Go, we can't dilly-dally; we have a big fish to catch!"

"Um!" He saluted in the end with a slight smile, and although I knew he disagreed with me at that point, he was still going to do it.

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In Lothlia, Dio was in his hideout, down in the basement of the lot the Winefield Caravans were renting within the city and began using it as their headquarters. Dio and many others, still loyal to the cause, didn't know that numerous newcomers who had appeared in the past weeks were not the replacements for those they had lost, sent by their superiors. Still, because the core of the Winefield Caravans was made up of those who arrived at the first wave and stayed behind in the city, they mostly remained untouched, making them a bit harder to infiltrate for now.

Since returning, Dio finally had some time to breathe, relax, and shed the constant worry that made him think he was being watched and followed. As for the magic device, the moment he released the button, it began cooling down and returned to being nothing but a strange little device. A decorative piece of art and nothing more.

"I will have to bring this back home as soon as possible…" he murmured, placing it on a shelf amongst other knickknacks. Following his basic training, he did not want it to stand out, so he kept it a secret from everybody else, including his comrades. Share only what others share with you. Nothing more, nothing less. He was about to sit down and review the whole event in his head to see if he had missed anything while retreating and to know if he was indeed watched or not when knocking interrupted his thoughts.

Opening the door, another middle-aged man with short black hair and a growing beard stood there. He was named Ospeck and was currently the head of the Winefiled Caravans while their boss was away. As for who was the real mastermind behind them all? Who was leading their group? He couldn't tell, but he was sure that it had to be someone from those who remained in Lothlia coordinating everything.

"Did something happen?" Dio asked, his mind immediately going to the worst place. He thought his nervousness proved to be accurate, and he was indeed discovered and followed, jeopardizing their entire operation.

"You could say that…" Ospeck nodded, but before Dio could turn white, he flashed a small smile, raising his right hand and holding a rolled-up, thick parchment. "The Lady had sent back something important."

Taking it from him after Ospeck presented the parchment, Dio almost fell over, realizing what he was holding in his hand.

"Is this…?"

"Not a precise copy." Ospeck immediately explained, "We lost three agents again while getting this information… The Lady is now lying low; there won't be news sent back for a while until she clears herself of suspicion. In the meantime, we will ramp up our imports and bring in rare resources from Westland and from foreign lands! The one who brought this over needs to leave the Frontier and do it soon. She will travel with you; take good care of her; she is a talented one who managed to slip this out and bring it to us!"

"I'd like to meet with her then!" Dio smiled, feeling that they had not only hit a goldmine but also that this would bring them great honor.

"She is upstairs, resting. She was exhausted from traveling on foot from Avalon to here!"

"Then, until she wakes… I will study this!" Dio laughed, holding the parchment, realizing that other papers and letters were folded up within it, one even directly bearing his name…

It took hours for him to copy the blueprint and enlarge the encoded version, which was much, much more complex than he first expected. The moment he began redrawing it, following their unique encoding, it was making it impossible for him to make sense of it. Although he was oblivious to many of the fine details, he quickly realized there were apparent errors within it. However, still, it was a tremendous accompanying piece with the magic device… well, at least, he believed that the two would fit together perfectly. By the time he finished with the blueprint, it was already morning, and even though he hadn't slept for more than a day, he was filled with newfound energy.

Finally, his attention turned towards the letter marked with his name. Opening it, he found not much to go on, only the core details of his next task from the leader of their network. In it, she, if she was indeed a lady and not just a codename, detailed that they lost more key figures, but their sacrifice allowed Elvira to slip away with all of their findings. He had to ensure she lived as from now on, Elvira was valuable, and with how many good spies they lost, they couldn't afford to operate only with amateurs… Otherwise, the whole operation would be in jeopardy.

"Elvira…" Dio mumbled, destroying the letter that was telling him to bring Elvira home and vouch for her. "Good connections are important; it is best to start building them soon. Who knows what happens in the future, and we need trustable people to watch our backs…"

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"We are in." Yuri chuckled, reading a tiny letter that arrived last night. "My little Elvire is on her way to Westland."

"What about the magic device?" Sasha asked before I could while we sat at our breakfast table.

"He is carrying it, but he never made any mention of it, keeping its existence a secret. It will take time to get close enough to bring it up."

"We will use the third addendum for our infiltration." I said, making Yuri nod, understanding it at once.

We had multiple alternate scenarios planned out, and while Elvira was heading to Westland, she was not alone; three of her sisters were following her. The third addendum meant we would throw an ambush at them, coordinated in a way that Elvira could go and save our target's life.

"Make her get close to him and try to discover the device and its functions before arriving at Westland."

"Are you worried they learned too much?" Luna asked, but I just smiled at her, shaking my head.

"Nope! I just want the technology for snapping pictures. The newspaper would go on to have a second revolution with its inclusion!"

"Speaking of revolutions," Yuri continued, munching on her toast and egg. "We are getting reports of unrest in multiple regions within the Empire. It seems that all the people needed is more freedom, taking off the nobles from their backs, and boom, they are ready to start complaining!"

"Of course!" Mikan shrugged, sighing before leaning to her side and wiping Arthur's mouth because he had his whole face colored red from the jam he was spreading all over his bread. "For a long time, especially in the last 500 years, the regions within the Empire were like their own small kingdoms, ruled by the local noble family. The royal bloodline only cared about their tithe arriving in time and dealing with outside issues."

"Noble families were in great competition." Luna added, thinking back to her childhood days, "The plays they made usually meant that dozens of regular people would die. Whole families were being wiped out in their games."

"Which results in what we see now." Mikan nodded, "The Empire has grown too big and bloated, festering with injustice. The moment Mirian lit the fuse, it was about to blow."

"It is happening sooner than expected." I answered, reaching for my mug filled with steaming coffee. "If not now, there will be fire spreading all over the place next year... The question is, will it be a raging firestorm from the get-go, or will it start slow?"